Dr PP Job: A Witness to our Times

Several years ago while listening to a Christian broadcast I happened to hear about one incident in David Livingstone's life in the course of a sermon.

The White explorer and medical missionary had landed inAfrica. Initially, the Africans were hesitant to approach Dr livingstone even though he wanted to heal them using his knowledge and medicines. Language was also an obstacle.

One day a dog with a broken leg passed by his cottage. He thought he could at least seek to heal the dog, if not the men. Then he chased the dog , which ran from him and fell at a distance. He cleaned its wound and dressed it gently and let it go.

A few days later, one dark night, he heard repeated knocks at the door of his cottage. A little disturbed and afraid, he opened the door slightly with a gun in one hand and a lantern on the other hand. He was surprised by what he saw

Livingstone

There was a bunch of dogs. One of them looked longingly at Livingstone, tails wagging…It was moaning in a way as to express its love and began licking his feet …He looked again and knew instantly it was the dog whose wound he had helped heal. The other accompanying dogs had eome with injured legs, damaged ears, body bruises and so on… They seemed to be eyeing Livingstone expectantly! He understood their language. He was wonder-struck.

I had switched on the channel midway and so I was not sure whether it was just a story or a real incident. The story made a deep impression on me and I wanted to verify whether such an incident had been reported in the life of the missionary. But hardly anyone had heard of the story when I made some half hearted inquiries. The couple of books on him which I browsed through did not help.

Only lately while I was reading Dr Job's biography, I was surprised to see the story repeated in the book. According to Dr Job he had taken the incident from a biography of Dr Livingstone

And Job also says that the story gave a new thrust to his evangelical effort. His Sabina Press today prints and distributes books and tracts in languages he is not familiar with.

Dr Livingstone's motivating verse in the African adventure was: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….I am with you always , even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20).

Wurmbrand

Job got the greatest opportunity of his life when Rev Richard Wurmbrand invited him to join his ministry aimed at spreading the Gospel in communist nations. This amazing Jew, who had turned to Christ, formed the 'Tortured for Christ" outfit to serve the cause of the Gospel in Communist countries. Wurmbrand had undergone solitary confinement for 14 years in his own Romania when the communists came to power. His commitment, love, and zeal for the Lord are evident from his numerous books he had written for the furtherance of the Gospel. In 1966, he appeared before the US.

As Job was planning to visit some African nations, Wurmbrand invited him toLondonto spend a couple of days with him. Job had been reading books on Dr Livingstone's life and inLondonhe happened to be at the Livingstone memorial at the Westminster Abbey. These proved very inspirational in the context of his proposed visit to African nations.

My acquaintance with Job dates back to the time I landed inDelhiâ€"in 1968. We were introduced to each other by a Mar Thoma missionary, Rev C.S Joseph of Kunnamkulam. A small time evangelist then, he had limited proficiency in Malayalam and English and he was using the medium of films for Gospel work. Over the years he had mastered the art of speaking and attained proficiency in the languages. His testimonies , delivered in the common folk's simple language, moved the masses. He inspired them by his example and exploits. His testimonies touched the lives of struggling men and women. His publications and literature reach a wide audience over our globe.

Not ashamed

He is not ashamed to confess before the masses the abject poverty and struggles he had gone through. It is God who turned the ordinary lad into an extraordinary missionary attempting great things for His kingdom. He was not ashamed to preach the Gospel in a secular setting and his exalted position and respectability as a Christian leader did not prevent him from speaking passionately about his lowly beginning. At the age of five, when other boys of his neighbourhood were in school , he was selling peanuts and Soda water at bus stations to answer the call of hunger.

But those early struggles trained him to do business for the Lord later in life. His massive evangelistic campaigns in the big cities, his founding of the Michael Job Memorial Arts and Science College for Girls and the Michael Job Memorial College of Education for Women in pursuit of his crusade for the emancipation of the girl child, the big Sabina Printing Press churning out Christian literature and books in their thousands –all these are standing testimonies of the fruits of his life's labours for the Lord. Though he and his wife Dr Mary Job lost their two sons in tragic incidents, they became father and mother to more than 300 orphaned girls through the orphanage set up in Coimbatore in the wake of Michael Job's death.

Modern miracle

Thus Job's life is a modern miracle. Through Job's life God has affirmed the truth of St Paul's observations: "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty." ( 1 Corinthians 1:27) Yes, Job had his share of critics. He was a human striving against his flesh in the grace of God.

Think of it: a peanut selling boy was chosen to be a world wide ambassador of the King of Kings and he proclaimed with power in those communist nations that Jesus and not Marx, is their saviour. Compare the poverty and struggles from which our good Lord lifted him up to do great things for Him. His life's message to us, fellow labourers, is to rise up and shine.

The Light which Job has lit in this nation will continue to shine and glorify his Father in heaven.